Tooth and Claw: Hatchling
by Daraith
Summary: Here is a land of tooth and claw, shaped through powder and steel. It is a world that lives on the hunt, built on the bone and marrow of its peoples' triumphs. It is here in this world that a new legend begins; deep within the forests of Schrade there is a tapping on the egg that is Kiriki village. The only question is what it will take to break the shell.


**—] MH [—**

"Calm yourself and keep your body still…slow breaths to focus…watch for an opening…"

The wizened hunter's hushed voice hung in Hako's ears like a wyvern's cry in the static silence of the forest. Her eyes flickered back and forth between her father and his prey.

Peering through the brush that concealed them both, the young girl could make out the brutish beast that had settled by the creek to drink in the clearing before them. It was covered with thick but lustrous brown fur, its forelimbs thick with muscle while its hindquarters were barely half the size. The two white tusks that protruded from either side of its face made identifying its identity a simple task. The bullfango's nostrils flared as it looked about idly with beady black eyes before lowering its head to the shimmering water below, completely unaware of the danger that lurked not twenty steps straight forward.

"Never rush a strike; you never know when you'll get another chance. But when you see one…"

Hako's heart beat with excitement as she heard the familiar rasp of an arrow from its quiver. Looking over, she watched the massive bolt slide back into her father's bow, which was easily twice her height, with a fluid, practiced precision that left her in awe. The projectile alone was larger than she was, far surpassing the full draw distance of the bow even as the hunter pulled it back, its tip twisted as if the tip and the back had been gripped and then wrenched in opposite directions, giving it a menacing appearance.

Her father took a slow, deliberate breath until his chest swelled against the restraints of the hunting leathers. The limbs of the aged weapon creaked a bit in protest, the wear of years showing through. The bullfango's ears flicked up in response, but the rest of it gave no sign of being alarmed. Even so, the side of the archer's mouth twitched.

"Trust your gut…imagine your attack before you perform it…and when the time is right…"

Hako took a hasty breath in to ease the tension—and sneezed.

Another moment, and the chance would have been lost, and nothing would have been left of the beast but a trail of dust.

But her father didn't give it the chance. Without hesitation, he loosed the bolt. The bullfango had only the time to raise its head in surprise before the bolt landed directly between its eyes, shattering bone and piercing the vital tissues beneath.

For a moment, it was completely still. Were it not for the end of the arrow sticking out of its skull, anyone could have mistaken it for being amongst the living. Then, as if in slow motion, two of its legs left the ground as the others crumpled, and the furry body tumbled in a heap to the forest floor without so much as a single twitch.

Hako looked up at her father anxiously, expecting admonishment as he lowered his weapon with a heavy sigh. She could have cost them hours of tracking and searching with a single sound; anyone would be surely furious.

But the eyes that looked back down at her from under the goggles were not of anger, but of satisfaction. That, and a great deal of amusement. He grinned openly and pumped his arm into the air in a sign of victory. Hako's anxiety disappeared in an instant, and her excitement returned in time to mirror his gesture, at once crying out elatedly.

"Hah!"

In moments they had descended to the clearing and their kill. Hako looked on with pride and admiration as her father pulled a knife the size of her arm from his belt and began to work at the creature's tough hide, his bow neatly folded and stored upon his back just above his hip-slung quiver. There were many hunts that she'd been on with her father, and this moment was always the sweetest and most precious part. The glee of a job well done, or in this case an arrow well placed, left her with an ear-to-ear grin that she knew would be cause of an unhealthy aching in her cheeks later. But for the moment, it didn't matter, and moments later her father stood back up, storing the fruits of their labor wrapped in leather strips before stashing them in his pack.

"A Kirin…"

She blurted it out as her father approached, and he tilted his head inquisitively as she pointed at the arrow, which was still embedded in the bullfango's skull. With the handle sticking out, it looked like a fatter, browner version of the legendary beast of thunder that she alluded to, with a single iron horn jutting straight out.

Her father looked at the scene for a moment, blinked twice, then burst out into loud, raucous laughter that pierced the ambience of the surrounding wildlife. Hako couldn't stifle her giggles, and soon the both of them were engulfed with howls of morbid amusement.

Once he found his breath again, and (messily) retrieving his arrow, the hunter descended upon his bubbling child, grabbing and hoisting her up onto his shoulders as she squeaked in surprise. Securing her perch, she started to chatter ecstatically about the hunt as he turned south, back towards the village that they called home; the village of Kiriki.

**—] MH [—**

Hello there! My name is Daraith, and I'd like to thank you for reading my Monster Hunter fanfiction. Truth be told, this is my first fanfiction that I've ever written, and I'm hopeful that I'll get better as I write more. I've got a lot planned for this character, and I can't wait to get going on writing more. The chapters to come will probably be a lot longer than this, so if you enjoyed it there'll be definitely much more where that came from! (If college doesn't eat me alive. x.x;; )

For the sake of some background on my experience on the series, I got into Monster Hunter with Tri on the Wii. I fell in love with the play style and mechanics of the game, and though Tri's monster list was quite limited in retrospect, I always felt like there was something to do on the game. I clocked in at 500+ hours on my first file before I accidentally deleted it one early morning (bad blood pressure! ) and lost the will to work up another. That's when the friend that introduced me to Tri gave me his old PSP and a copy of Monster Hunter Freedom 2. I think you can guess where that went.

My inspiration to write this fanfiction started when I discovered the Monster Hunter Wiki. My jaw separated itself from the remainder of my skull at how much information there was and how many different regions and species were found in the world. That, and the cinematic sequences at the start-up of each game always enchanted me. When Monster Hunter 4 was announced and its gameplay teaser released, I just couldn't stop myself. I sat in the science building of my university for hours just to come up with Hako and her family's names (I'm terrible with Japanese, but I like to think it a labor of love) and from scratch no less.

Anyways, enough rambling. On with finishing Chapter One!

-Dar


End file.
